Deaf and Blind Students Perform Miracles
Wide attention has been attracted by two students at Northwestern University, one of them stone blind, the other deaf and dumb, by reason of their marvelous demonstrations in “seeing” and “hearing.” Wiletta Huggins, deaf and dumb, can hear with her fingertips, or by placing a pole against a speaker’s chest and feeling the vibrations. Professor Robert H. Gault is conducting a series of experiments with her that may eventually lead to teaching deaf mutes to talk. No less remarkable are the achievements of the blind student, Carl Bostrom, who has so trained his facial nerves and ears that he can “see” things that are denied those who have the use of their eyes. In a crowded court room, he could tell, by the sound of a prisoner’s voice, whether or not he was telling the truth. Also, with uncanny accuracy, he told the dimensions of the room, located the doors and windows, and calmly announced that on one side of the room only men were standing, and on the other only women.
“I can tell by the sounds,” he said—“little sounds that most people miss. There is a difference in the noises made by men and women.”
A reporter asked him how many persons there were in the court.
He listened acutely, then said, “Seventy-five.”
The reporter guessed one hundred. Another guess estimated the number at sixty. The persons in the room were counted. There were exactly eighty two.